24 BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FRUIT GROWING 



of considerable size are pending, many good nurs- 

 erymen are glad to send samples of the trees 

 quoted, and this is a most excellent precaution on 

 the part of the buyer. 



It is customary, further, for the nurseryman to 

 represent, and to some extent to guarantee, that the 

 stock sold shall be clean, straight, well branched 

 and free from all insects and fungous diseases. The 

 freedom from insects and fungous diseases is usu- 

 ally further certified by an inspectors label supplied 

 with each shipment. While the inspection back of 

 this certificate may or may not have a salutary in- 

 fluence, it is an open question whether the label 

 itself has any value whatever for the tree buyer. 



It has been customary in times recently past to 

 buy all apple trees from the nursery at two years 

 old. Still earlier in the history of American horti- 

 culture 3-year-old. 4-year-old and more-year-old 

 trees were frequently transplanted. The tendency 

 has been constantly toward the use of younger 

 trees, and this tendency has been so strong of late 

 years that today i-year-old apple trees are insisted 

 on by the majority of the most expert fruit men. 

 The writer owns to a very emphatic preference for 

 the i-year tree. It is much more plastic under the 

 hands of the orchardist, more readily forms a sym- 

 metrical head, and shows a smaller percentage of 

 loss in most plantings. Certainly no experienced 

 tree man would today use apple trees over 2 vears 

 old. 



The same tendency to the use of younger trees 

 is visible in all other lines of fruit planting. Pear 

 trees are still usually transplanted at two years of 

 age, though Kieffer, Le Conte and Garber form dis- 

 tinct exceptions to this rule, being nearly always 



